Information processing system, information processing method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

An information processing system includes circuitry that receives position information of first stroke information and second stroke information drawn on a display at different timing, adds additional information indicating a relationship of the received first stroke information and the received second stroke information to the received first stroke information, and generates, based on the position information of the received first stroke information, the position information of the received second stroke information and the added additional information, consecutive data used for displaying (playing) information drawn on the display as the first stroke information and the second stroke information, and a memory that stores the generated consecutive data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-109887, filed onJun. 1, 2016 in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present invention relates to an information processing system, aninformation processing method, and a non-transitory recording mediumstoring an information processing program.

Background Art

Regarding characters and graphics drawn on displays such as electronicinformation boards (electronic whiteboards) etc., a technology thatacquires information as trajectories of coordinates on the display isknown. Furthermore, a function that shares the information acquired fromthe displays with other terminals via networks is also known.

For example, a technology that includes a terminal that transfersdisplay information input by an input device and position specifyinginformation for specifying a position of displaying the displayinformation and a display controller that, in comparison with thereceived position specifying information and position relatedinformation, displays the received display information transferred bythe terminal at a position area in the basis of the position informationassociated with the position related information is known.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present invention provide a novel informationprocessing system that includes circuitry that receives positioninformation of first stroke information and second stroke informationdrawn on a display at different timing, adds additional informationindicating a relationship of the received first stroke information andthe received second stroke information to the received first strokeinformation, and generates, based on the position information of thereceived first stroke information, the position information of thereceived second stroke information and the added additional information,consecutive data used for displaying (playing) information drawn on thedisplay as the first stroke information and the second strokeinformation, and a memory that stores the generated consecutive data.

Further example embodiments of the present invention provide a method ofprocessing information and a non-transitory recording medium storing aninformation processing program.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a drawing information sharing system asan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the drawinginformation sharing system as an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating position information data acquired froman electronic information board in the drawing information sharingsystem as an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of consecutive datagenerated in the basis of the position information data acquired in thedrawing information sharing system as an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of generatingconsecutive data performed by a managing server included in the drawinginformation sharing system as an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a layout of a transferring server andthe managing server in the drawing information sharing system as anembodiment of the present invention, and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of thetransferring server and the managing server in the drawing informationsharing system as an embodiment of the present invention.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments ofthe present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scopethereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn toscale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context dearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings,specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, thedisclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited tothe specific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood thateach specific element includes all technical equivalents that have thesame function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similarresult.

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below in detail withreference to figures. In figures, same symbols are assigned to same orcorresponding parts, and their descriptions are simplified or omittedappropriately.

In the embodiments described below, a drawing information sharing system100 that shares information drawn on an electronic information board(electronic whiteboard) 110 is described as an example of an informationprocessing system.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the drawing information sharing system100 in this embodiment. The drawing information sharing system 100 inFIG. 1 includes the electronic information board 110, a transferringserver 120, a managing server 130, a virtual reality display 150, alaptop computer 160, and a multifunction peripheral (NTFP) 180.

The electronic information board 110, the transferring server 120, themanaging server 130, the virtual reality display 150, the laptopcomputer 160, and the MFP 180 are communicably connected with each othervia a network 102.

The network 102 includes a wired or wireless local area network (LAN).In FIG. 1, a wireless LAN access point 104 is connected to the network102. The virtual reality display 150 is connected to the network 102 viathe wireless LAN access point 104. However, the network environmentillustrated in FIG. 1 is just an example, and it should be noted thatthe network environment in this embodiment is not particularly limitedto the network environment illustrated in FIG. 1. The network 102 mayinclude a public communication network such as the internet etc.

The electronic information board 110 is a device that is also referredto as an interactive whiteboard (IWB). The electronic information board110 may adopt any one of known methods such as infrared image sensormethod, matrix switch method, resistive method, surface acoustic wavemethod, electromagnetic induction method, and capacitive method etc.

On the electronic information board 110, a user may draw strokeinformation such as a character and picture etc. on the screen directlyusing a pointing device such as a stylus 112 and a finger etc. Inaddition, the electronic information board 110 in this embodiment mayprovide the stroke information such as the character and graphic drawnon the screen using the pointing device to an external apparatus.

It should be noted that the electronic information board 110 may beprovided as a dedicated apparatus that provides an electronicinformation board function. Otherwise, the electronic information board110 may be provided as a generic computer such as a tablet computer etc.on which an application that implements an operation of drawing thestroke information such as the character and graphic etc. such as theelectronic information board function etc.

The transferring server 120 is a server that reads the drawinginformation drawn on the screen of the electronic information board 110from the electronic information board 110 and transfers the read drawinginformation to the managing server 130. Exemplarily, the transferringserver 120 is implemented as a dedicated server that mainly transfersthe stroke information drawn on one or more electronic informationboards 110 associated with the transferring server 120 itself to themanaging server 130 that manages the drawing information in anintegrated fashion. However, the configuration of the transferringserver 120 is not limited particularly, and the transferring server 120may be implemented as a server that includes other functions too. Inaddition, functions of the transferring server 120 may be implemented inother devices such as the electronic information board 110 and themanaging server 130 etc.

The managing server 130 is a server that manages information drawn onthe electronic information board 110 in an integrated fashion. Themanaging server 130 in this embodiment may convert the strokeinformation transferred by the transferring server 120 into consecutivedata so that drawing of the information drawn on the electronicinformation board 110 is playable. Furthermore, in response to a requestfrom an external client terminal, the managing server 130 may distributethe consecutive data for the managed stroke information to the clientterminal as the source of the request.

In specific embodiments, the managing server 130 may provide a snapshotof the stroke information drawn on the electronic information board inthe basis of the generated consecutive data. Here, the snapshot isinformation capturing a status of the stroke information drawn on thecanvas at a predetermined point in time as a still image.

Exemplarily, the managing server 130 is implemented as a dedicatedserver that manages the stroke information transferred by transferringserver 120 in an integrated fashion. However, the configuration of themanaging server 130 is not limited particularly, and the managing server130 may be implemented as a server that includes other functions too. Inaddition, functions of the managing server 130 may be implemented inother devices,

The virtual reality display 150 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a clientterminal that requests the managing server 130 to acquire theconsecutive data of the stroke information and plays drawing of theinformation drawn on the electronic information board 110 in the basisof the acquired consecutive data on the display of the virtual realitydisplay 150 itself. The virtual reality display 150 is implemented as ahead mount display or a smart glass etc. The laptop computer 160 is alsoa similar client terminal. The virtual reality display 150 and thelaptop computer 160 are examples of the client terminal, and mobileinformation devices such as a smartphone and a tablet computer etc. anda generic computer such as a desktop computer etc. may be used as theclient terminal. Furthermore, the client terminals 150 and 160 in thisembodiment may acquire the snapshot of the stroke information from themanaging server 130 and request the MFP 180 to print the snapshot.

The MEP 180 is an image forming apparatus that performs an operation offorming an image in response to a request to print out the image. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the client terminals 150 and 160 mayrequest the MFP 180 to print out the snapshot acquired from the managingserver 130. The MFP 180 may print out the snapshot of the strokeinformation passed as print data as the still image in response to therequest to print Out the image from the client terminals 150 and 160.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the drawinginformation sharing system 100 in this embodiment. In FIG. 2, a functionblock 210 in the electronic information board 110, a function block 220in the transferring server 120, a function block 230 in the managingserver 130, and a function block 250 in the client terminal 150(hereinafter referred to as the virtual reality display 150representatively).

In the function block 210 in the electronic information board 110, aposition information provider 212 is included. After the strokeinformation such as the character and graphic etc. on the screen of theelectronic information board 110 using the pointing device such as thestylus 112 etc. is drawn by user operation, the electronic informationboard 110 calculates coordinates of the position pointed by the pointingdevice such as the stylus 112 etc., generates display data by drawing aline in the basis of a trajectory of the calculated coordinates, anddisplays the generated display data on the screen of the electronicinformation board 110. As a result, user experience as if the strokeinformation is handwritten on the canvas may be provided. The positioninformation provider 212 may provide the position information dataindicating the trajectory of the stroke information such as thecharacter and graphic drawn on the screen to the external apparatus,

In the function block 220 in the transferring server 120, a positioninformation reader 222, a position information storing unit 224, and aposition information transferring unit 226 are included.

The position information reader 222 reads position information dataindicating the trajectory of the stroke information drawn on the screenfrom the position information provider 212 in the electronic informationboard 110 and stores the read position information data in the positioninformation storing unit 224. The position information storing unit 224stores the position information data of the stroke information read fromthe electronic information board 110 temporarily,

A timing of reading the position information data is not particularlylimited. For example, the position information reader 222 may read theposition information data for one stroke each time one stroke(corresponding to one stroke in the case of characters) is drawn.Otherwise, for example, the position information reader 222 may read theposition information data for one character each time one character isdrawn and read the position information data for multiple characterseach time multiple characters are drawn using a timing that the drawingoperation is not performed for a predetermined period of time afterholding up the pen as a separator.

The position information transferring unit 226 transfers the positioninformation data of the stroke information stored in the positioninformation storing unit 224 to the managing server 130 at apredetermined interval. It is assumed that the managing server 130 as atransferring destination is preregistered. The predetermined intervalfor transferring the position information may be either regularly orirregularly. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the positioninformation transferring unit 226 transfers the position information ofthe stroke information to the managing server 130 at a constantinterval. However, the predetermined interval for transferring theposition information is not particularly limited. In other embodiments,the position information transferring unit 226 may transfer the positioninformation data for one stroke, one character, or multiple charactersto the managing server 130 immediately each time the positioninformation for one stroke, one character, or multiple characters isread. After detecting that the sequential drawing is finished, thetransferring server 120 reports to the managing server 130 that thedrawing is finished. For example, in response that drawing is notperformed for a predetermined period of time, it is reported to themanaging server 130 that drawing is finished.

Here, with reference to FIG. 3, the position information data of thestroke information is described below. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustratingthe position information data acquired from the electronic informationboard 110 in the drawing information sharing system 100 in thisembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the position information data read from theelectronic information board 110 and transferred by the transferringserver 120 includes one or more strokes (corresponding to one stroke inthe case of characters) drawn on the screen of the electronicinformation board 110. Each stroke includes coordinates information ofthe trajectory on the predetermined canvas on the electronic informationboard 110. Exemplarily, coordinates are expressed using a coordinationsystem illustrated in FIG. 3. More specifically, the upper left isconsidered as the origin (0, 0), and values increase as a point moves tothe lower side and the right side.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the position information data includes one ormore strokes, and characters and graphics include one or more strokes.For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a kanji character (left side)consists of five strokes. Likewise, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a katakanacharacter (right side) consists of three strokes. In FIG. 3, inconsideration of simplifying descriptions, only the start point and endpoint are illustrated. However, one or more intermediate pointsindicating the middle of the stroke may be included. It should be notedthat the number of strokes included in one position information datatransferred to the managing server 130 depends on the timing oftransferring as described above.

The position information data may include an array of one of morestrokes. Furthermore, the array of one or more strokes may be divided bystrokes in units of a character by performing handwriting recognition.Furthermore, in addition to the coordinates information, each stroke mayinclude other attribute values such as the weight and color of the penused for drawing the character and graphic, motion information such asspeed of a tip of the pen, and information on pen pressure etc.

Here, FIG. 2 is referred to again. The function block 230 in themanaging server 130 includes a position information receiver 232, aconsecutive data generator 234, a consecutive data storing unit 238, anda consecutive data distributor 240.

The position information receiver 232 receives the position informationdata of the stroke information drawn on the electronic information board110 from the position information transferring unit 226 in thetransferring server 120. A receiver in this embodiment consists of theposition information receiver 232. The predetermined intervalcorresponds to an interval when the transferring server 120 describedabove performs the transferring operation.

In the basis of the received position information data, the consecutivedata generator 234 generates consecutive data for playing drawing theinformation drawn on the electronic information board described above.More specifically, the consecutive data generator 234 includes aninformation adding unit 236. The information adding unit 236 addsadditional information indicating a relationship with other strokeinformation to the stroke information. The consecutive data storing unit238 stores the consecutive data generated by the consecutive datagenerator 234 and keeps the consecutive data in preparation fordistributing the consecutive data later.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the consecutivedata generated in the basis of the position information data acquired inthe drawing information sharing system 100 in this embodiment. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, in the generated consecutive data, the positioninformation of the stroke information (such as StartPoint and EndPointetc. for example) is recorded in addition to the additional informationassociated with the position information.

Examples of the added additional information are SCENEID as sceneidentification information associated with stroke information thatconstructs the same scene, LOGID as consecutive image identificationinformation associated with stroke information belonging to a group ofobjects drawn within the same range of a period of time, SUBID as imageidentification information associated with stroke information belongingto the same object that constructs the group of objects, and ORDER asorder information specifying an order with other stroke information inthe object. Here, an example of the scene is a meeting etc. The objectmay include a character and graphic. In the below description, it isassumed that the object is a character for the sake of convenience.

The consecutive data generator 234 records the position information ofthe stroke information in the generated consecutive data and records thescene identification information SCENEID, the consecutive imageidentification information LOGID, the image identification informationSUBID, and the order information ORDER described above associated withthe position information. The information adding unit 236 constructs aninformation adding unit in this embodiment, and the consecutive datagenerator 234 constructs a generator in this embodiment.

Here, FIG. 2 is referred to again. In response to a request from theclient terminal, the consecutive data distributor 240 distributes theconsecutive data stored in the consecutive data storing unit 238 to theclient terminal 150. For example, the user may receive the consecutivedata specifying an intended scene using the scene identificationinformation SCENEID etc. In addition, the user may receive theconsecutive data specifying an intended period of time using theconsecutive image identification information LOGID etc. The consecutivedata distributor 240 constructs a distributor in this embodiment.Otherwise, the user may receive the consecutive data from the topspecifying the consecutive data currently being generated.

Furthermore, the function block 230 in the managing server 130 may alsoinclude a snapshot provider 242 and a minutes data generator 244.

The snapshot provider 242 generates a snapshot in the basis of theconsecutive data stored in the consecutive data storing unit 238 andprovides the generated snapshot to the client terminal 150 as the originof the request. For example, the user may acquire the snapshotspecifying a point of time using the scene identification informationSCENEID and the consecutive image identification information LOGID etc.described above. The snapshot provider 242 constructs a provider in thisembodiment.

The minutes data generator 244 performs character recognition in thebasis of the consecutive data stored in the consecutive data storingunit 238, generates minutes data including one or more recognizedcharacters, and provides the requested consecutive data to the clientterminal. For example, the user may acquire the minutes data specifyinga scene using the scene identification information SCENEID etc.described above. The minutes data generator 244 constructs a minutesgenerator in this embodiment.

By applying the character recognition technology, the minutes datagenerator 244 may recognize the drawn character based on the consecutivedata described above. The character recognition method is not limitedspecifically. For example, if attribute information such as motion ofthe tip of the pen in a stroke and holding up/down the pen etc. may beacquired, it is possible to apply an online handwritten characterrecognition technology that performs a pattern matching operation with acharacter database on one or more stroke data in accordance with therecognition algorithm and estimates the drawn character, :In that case,connectivity between characters may be considered by preforming therecognizing operation in units of multiple characters and usingdictionary for words etc. In other embodiments, it is possible toperform an imaging operation in the basis of the trajectory ofcoordinates and recognize characters by applying an offline characterrecognition technology.

The function block 250 in the client terminal 150 includes a consecutivedata receiver 252, a consecutive data player 254, and a snapshot printprocessor 256.

The consecutive data receiver 252 requests the managing server 130 todistribute the consecutive data and receives the consecutive datadistributed by the consecutive data distributor 240 in the managingserver 130. Intentional consecutive data may be specified using thescene identification information SCENEID and the consecutive imageidentification information LOGID etc. Otherwise, consecutive data beinggenerated may be distributed.

In the basis of the consecutive data received by the consecutive datareceiver 252, the consecutive data player 254 draws a stroke on thedisplay screen and displays playing information drawn on the electronicinformation board 110 on a flat display included in the virtual realitydisplay 150 or the client terminal 160.

The snapshot print processor 256 requests the managing server 130 toprovide the snapshot and publishes a print job to the external NEP 180etc. in the basis of the snapshot data provided by the snapshot provider242 in the managing server 130. The snapshot at an intentional point intime may be specified using the scene identification information SCENEIDand the consecutive image identification information LOGID etc.Otherwise, the snapshot at the present point in time may be provided.

In this embodiment, for example, the acquired snapshot is used forprinting out. However, the way of using the snapshot is not limited, andsnapshots at one or more points in time respectively may be generated asan image file for one page such as Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG), Bitmap (BMP), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG) etc. or an image file for multiple pages such asTagged image File Format (TIFF) and Portable Document Format (PDF) etc.,transferred to a predetermined mail address, and stored in a networksharing folder.

With reference to FIG. 5, an operation of generating consecutive dataperformed by the managing server 130 is described below in furtherdetail. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of generatingconsecutive data performed by the managing server 130 included in thedrawing information sharing system 100 in this embodiment.

For example, when a predetermined meeting starts, the operationillustrated in FIG. 5 starts in response to a command to start recordingthe meeting by user operation. In 51.01, the managing server 130 numbersthe scene identification information SCENEID for each meeting and recordthe numbered scene identification information SCENEID in the consecutivedata. Stroke information acquired from now on is associated with thenumbered scene identification information SCENEID until it is finishedto record the meeting. As a result, the position information datasporadically transferred by the transferring server 120 to the managingserver 130 may be collectively managed, and association with otherstroke information constructing the same scene is recorded regarding thestroke information.

In S102, the managing server 130 determines whether or not next receiveddata exists. Here, the position information data is assumed to be put ina queue in the order of being received by the position informationreceiver 232. If the position information data is not received, it isdetermined that the next received data does not exist yet. In S102, ifit is determined that the next received data is not received yet (NO inS102), the step proceeds to S103. In S103, the managing server 130determines whether or not it is commanded to finish recording themeeting by user operation. In S103, if it is determined that it is notcommanded to finish recording the meeting by user operation (NO inS103), the step proceeds to S102. As a result, it is waited to receivethe position information data transferred by the transferring server 120until it is commanded to finish recording the meeting,

By contrast, in S102, if it is determined that the next received dataexists (YES in S102), the step proceeds to S104. If one or more positioninformation data is put in the queue, it is determined that the nextreceived data exists. In S104, the managing server 130 reads theposition information data located at the top of the queue as the nextreceived data.

In S105, the managing server 130 numbers the consecutive imageidentification information LOGID and record the numbered consecutiveimage identification information LOGID in the consecutive data. Strokeinformation acquired from now on is associated with the numberedconsecutive image identification information LOGID until the nextreceived data is processed. In this embodiment, the consecutive imageidentification information LOGID is numbered in units of the positioninformation data received by the position information receiver 232. As aresult, association with other stroke information belonging to a stringdrawn within the same predetermined time frame is recorded regarding thestroke information.

In S106, the managing server 130 numbers the image identificationinformation SUBID and record the numbered image identificationinformation SUBID in the consecutive data. The image identificationinformation SUBID is an image ID assigned to each character. Strokeinformation acquired from now on is associated with the numbered imageidentification information SUBID until the next character is processed.As a result, association with other stroke information belonging to thesame character constructing a string drawn within the same time frame isrecorded regarding the stroke information. In this embodiment, for thesake of convenience, it is assumed that the position information data isreceived in units of at least one or more characters and strokes for onecharacter is not divided into multiple position information data.

In S107, the managing server 130 initializes order information ORDERthat stores the order of stroke information in the character. Here, itis assumed that the order information is initialized as “1” indicatingthe first stroke information.

In S108, the managing server 130 determines whether or not it isrequired to record time information. For example, the time informationis measured at the timing of receiving the position information datanormally. In this case, if the time information added to the positioninformation data may be acquired such as the first operation afternumbering the consecutive image identification information LOUD, it isdetermined that it is required to record the time information.

If it is determined that it is required to record the time information(YES in S108), the step proceeds to S109. In S109, the managing server130 records the time information in the consecutive data. Here, writingtime (WritingTime) and received time (ServerReceivedTime) illustrated inFIG. 4 correspond to the time information. Here, the writing time(WritingTime) indicates approximate date/time when the drawing operationis performed on the electronic information board 110. The received time(ServerReceivedTime) indicates date/time when the data is transferred tothe managing server 130.

In S110, the managing server 130 acquires the order information ORDERnumbered at that moment, records the acquired order information ORDER inthe consecutive data, and increments the order information ORDER by 1.As a result, the order with other stroke information belonging to thesame character regarding the stroke information is recorded.

In S111, the managing server 130 reads information on stroke to beprocessed in the received data and records the coordinates informationof the read stroke. It should be noted that the stroke is constructedincluding a start point (StartPoint) and an end point (EndPoint).However, as described above, the construction of the stroke is notlimited, and one or more intermediate points may be included, and theattribute information described above may also be recorded in additionto the coordinates information.

In S112, the managing server 130 determines whether or not it is an endposition of the character with reference to the stroke to be processed.If a delimiter of characters is included in the position informationdata, it is possible to determine whether or not it is the end in thebasis of the delimiter. If the delimiter of characters is not includedin the position 3 0 information data, an appropriate delimiter isdetermined accordingly by performing the character recognitionoperation. In S112, if it is determined that it is not the end positionof the character (NO in S112), the step goes back to S110, and theoperation is performed on the next stroke. By contrast, in S112, if itis determined that it is the end position of the character (YES inS112), the step proceeds to S113.

In S113, the managing server 130 determines whether or not it is an endof the read received data. If it is determined that it is not the end ofthe read received data (NO in S113), the step goes back to 5106, and thenext character in the received data is to be processed. By contrast, ifit is finished to record the last stroke in the received data and it isdetermined that it is the end of the received data (YES in S113), thestep goes back to S102, and the next received data is to be processed.

With reference to S103 again, in S103, if it is commanded to finish themeeting by user operation and it is determined to finish recording themeeting (YES in S103), the operation ends.

By performing the consecutive data generating operation illustrated inFIG. 5, one or more position information data received sporadicallyillustrated in FIG. 3 is converted into the consecutive data in units ofscene that the information on date/time and the order is addedillustrated in FIG. 4 to be managed by the drawing information sharingsystem 100 in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a specific layout of the transferringserver 120 and the managing server 130 in the drawing informationsharing system 100 in this embodiment. In the drawing informationsharing system 100 illustrated in FIG. 6, multiple managing servers 130are included, and a load balancer 132 is laid out between the multiplemanaging servers 130A, 130B, and 130C and the network 102.

The load balancer 132 distributes the operation of generating theconsecutive data described above to one or more managing servers 130A to130C. The load balancer 132 constructs a load distributor in thisembodiment.

The transferring server 120 in FIG. 7 acquires the position informationon the stroke information drawn on the electronic information board 110from the electronic information board 110 and transfers the positioninformation on the stroke information to the load balancer 132. Inaccordance with a predetermined method such as round robin etc., theload balancer 132 determines a destination of the distribution among oneor more managing server 130A to 130C and further transfers the positioninformation of the stroke information.

By adopting the configuration of distributing load illustrated in FIG.6, even if many electronic information board 110 exist, it is possibleto reduce load weighed on one managing server 130.

The hardware configuration of the transferring server 120 and themanaging server 130 is described below with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the transferringserver 120 and the managing server 130 in the drawing informationsharing system 100 in this embodiment.

The transferring server 120 and the managing server 130 in thisembodiment are implemented as a generic computer 10 etc. The genericcomputer 10 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a single-core or multi-corecentral processing unit (CPU) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 14, aread only memory (ROM) 16, a hard disk drive (HDD) 18, and acommunication interface (I/F) device 24. The generic computer 10 mayinclude an input device 20 and a display 22 if necessary.

The CPU 12 controls the entire generic computer 10 such as performinginternal operations etc. The RAMI 14 provides a working area for the CPU12. The ROM 16 stores a control program such as Basic Input/OutputSystem (BIOS) etc. The HDD 18 stores an operating system (OS) forcontrolling the generic computer 10, a control program for implementingfunctional units (described later), various system information, andvarious configuration information,

The input device 20 is an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, anda touch screen panel etc. The display 22 is a display device such as aliquid crystal display, and an organic electroluminescence (EL) displayetc. The input device 20 and the display 22 construct a user interfacefor accepting input for various instructions by user operation. Thecommunication I/F device 24 is an interface device such as a networkinterface card (NIC) that connects the generic computer 10 to thenetwork 102.

The generic computer 10 in this embodiment implements the functionalunits and operations described above as the transferring server 120 andthe managing server 130 under control of the CPU 12 by reading programsfrom the ROM 16 and the HDD 18 and expanding the read programs into theworking area provided by the RAM 14.

As described above, in the embodiments described above, the informationprocessing system that may manage the information drawn on the displaydevice as the consecutive data that may play information drawn on thedisplay device is provided.

Especially, in the embodiments described above, the information drawn onthe display device such as the electronic information board 110 etc. ismanaged by the managing server 130 as the consecutive data that may playdrawing information. As a result, it is possible to share theinformation efficiently. For example, information may be shared by usingthe virtual reality display 150, and it is possible to constructenvironment as if a user joins the meeting in real time instead ofattending the meeting actually by using the virtual reality display 150.

In the embodiments described above, the information drawn on theelectronic information board 110 is managed as the consecutive data.Therefore, the consecutive data may be played back afterwards so thatthe information is drawn in the order of being written. As a result, theuser may share virtual experience as if the user attends the meeting andsee the information being drawn.

In the above-described example embodiment, a computer can be used with acomputer-readable program, described by object-oriented programminglanguages such as C++, C#, Java®, or legacy programming languages suchas machine language, assembler language, C language to controlfunctional units used for the apparatus or system. The computer softwarecan be provided to the programmable device using any storage medium orcarrier medium for storing processor-readable code such as a floppydisk, a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile diskread only memory (DVD-ROM), DVD recording only/rewritable (DVD-R/RW),Blu-ray disc, electrically erasable and programmable read only memory(EEPROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), a memory cardor stick such as USB memory, a memory chip, a mini disk (MD), a magnetooptical disc (MO), magnetic tape, a hard disk in a server, a solid statememory device or the like, but not limited these.

In the embodiments described above, the information processing systemthat may manage the information drawn on the display as the consecutivedata that the information drawn on the display may be played back isprovided.

In the above-described example embodiment, a computer can be used with acomputer-readable program, described by object-oriented programminglanguages such as C++, Java®, JavaScript®, Perl, Ruby, or legacyprogramming languages such as machine language, assembler language tocontrol functional units used for the apparatus or system. For example,a particular computer (e.g., personal computer, workstation) may controlan information processing apparatus or an image processing apparatussuch as image forming apparatus using a computer-readable program, whichcan execute the above-described processes or steps. In theabove-described embodiments, at least one or more of the units ofapparatus can be implemented as hardware or as a combination ofhardware/software combination. The computer software can be provided tothe programmable device using any storage medium or carrier medium forstoring processor-readable code such as a floppy disk, a compact diskread only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk read only memory(DVD-ROM), DVD recording only/rewritable (DVD-R/RW), electricallyerasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM), erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), a memory card or stick such asUSB memory, a memory chip, a mini disk (MD), a magneto optical disc(MO), magnetic tape, a hard disk in a server, a solid state memorydevice or the like, but not limited these.

Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

For example, elements and/or features of different illustrativeembodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for eachother within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented byone or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitryincludes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. Aprocessing circuit also includes devices such as an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), and conventional circuit componentsarranged to perform the recited functions.

1. An information processing system, comprising circuitry to: receiveposition information of first stroke information and second strokeinformation drawn on a display at different timing; add additionalinformation indicating a relationship of the received first strokeinformation and the received second stroke information to the receivedfirst stroke information; and generate, based on the positioninformation of the received first stroke information, the positioninformation of the received second stroke information and the addedadditional information, consecutive data used for displaying (playing)information drawn on the display as the first stroke information and thesecond stroke information, and a memory to store the generatedconsecutive data.
 2. The information processing system according toclaim 1, wherein the first stroke information and the second strokeinformation respectively indicates a first stroke and a second strokedrawn on the display, and the position information of the first strokeinformation and the second stroke information includes coordinatesinformation indicating a trajectory of the first stroke and the secondstroke on the display.
 3. The information processing system according toclaim 1, wherein the circuitry further: sets order informationspecifying an order of the first stroke information and the secondstroke information as the additional information; and includes the orderinformation in the generated consecutive data by associating orderinformation with the position information.
 4. The information processingsystem according to claim 1, wherein when a group of objects is drawnduring a given one time length, each of the objects is drawn with aplurality of stroke information, the circuitry: sets consecutive imageidentification information that indicates relationship of the pluralityof stroke information belonging to a first object and the plurality ofstroke information belonging to a second object drawn during the onetime length, and image identification information that indicatesrelationship of the plurality of stroke information belonging to thefirst object, and image identification information that indicatesrelationship of the plurality of stroke information belonging to thesecond object; and includes the consecutive image identificationinformation and the image identification information associated with theposition information in the generated consecutive data.
 5. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry further: numbers consecutive scene identification informationthat indicates relationship with a plurality of stroke informationconfiguring one scene; and stores the scene identification informationassociated with the position information in the generated consecutivedata.
 6. The information processing system according to claim 1, whereinthe circuitry further distributes the consecutive data stored in thememory to a terminal apparatus, and the terminal apparatus playsinformation drawn on the display of a virtuallity display device or aflat display device based on the distributed consecutive data.
 7. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry further provides a snapshot of the information drawn on thedisplay based on the consecutive data.
 8. The information processingsystem according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry further: performscharacter recognition based on the consecutive data; and generatesminutes data including one or more recognized characters.
 9. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, comprising: one ormore managing apparatuses including: circuitry to: receive positioninformation of first stroke information and second stroke informationdrawn on a display at different timing; add additional informationindicating a relationship of the received first stroke information andthe received second stroke information to the received first strokeinformation; and generate, based on the position information of thereceived first stroke information, the position information of thereceived second stroke information and the added additional information,consecutive data used for displaying (playing) information drawn on thedisplay as the first stroke information and the second strokeinformation, and a memory to store the generated consecutive data; aload balancing apparatus to distribute operations to one or moremanaging apparatuses; and a transferring apparatus to acquire theposition information of the stroke information drawn on the display fromthe display; and transfer the position information of the strokeinformation being acquired to any one of one or more managingapparatuses via the load balancing apparatus.
 10. A method of processinginformation performed by an information processing system, the methodcomprising: receiving position information of first stroke informationand second stroke information drawn on a display at different timing;adding additional information indicating a relationship of the receivedfirst stroke information and the received second stroke information tothe received first stroke information; generating, based on the positioninformation of the received first stroke information, the positioninformation of the received second stroke information and the addedadditional information, consecutive data used for displaying (playing)information drawn on the display as the first stroke information and thesecond stroke information; and storing the generated consecutive data.11. The method of processing information according to claim 10, whereinthe first stroke information and the second stroke informationrespectively indicates a first stroke and a second stroke drawn on thedisplay, and the position information of the first stroke informationand the second stroke information includes coordinates informationindicating a trajectory of the first stroke and the second stroke on thedisplay.
 12. The method of processing information according to claim 10,the method further comprising: setting order information specifying anorder of the first stroke information and the second stroke informationas the additional information; and including the order information inthe generated consecutive data by associating the order information withthe position information.
 13. The method of processing informationaccording to claim 10, wherein when a group of objects is drawn during agiven one time length, each of the objects is drawn with a plurality ofstroke information, and the method further comprising: settingconsecutive image identification information that indicates relationshipof the plurality of stroke information belonging to a first object andthe plurality of stroke information belonging to a second object drawnduring the one time length, and image identification information thatindicates relationship of the plurality of stroke information belongingto the first object, and image identification information that indicatesrelationship of the plurality of stroke information belonging to thesecond object; and including the consecutive image identificationinformation and the image identification information associated with theposition information in the generated consecutive data.
 14. The methodof processing information according to claim 10, the method furthercomprising: numbering consecutive scene identification information thatindicates relationship with a plurality of stroke informationconfiguring one scene; and storing the scene identification informationassociated with the position information in the generated consecutivedata.
 15. The method of processing information according to claim 10,the method further comprising: distributing the consecutive data storedin the memory to a terminal apparatus, and playing information drawn onthe display of a virtual reality display device or a flat display devicebased on the distributed consecutive data.
 16. The method of processinginformation according to claim 10, the method further comprising:providing a snapshot of the information drawn on the display based onthe consecutive data.
 17. The method of processing information accordingto claim 10, the method further comprising: performing characterrecognition based on the consecutive data; and generating minutes dataincluding one or more recognized characters.
 18. The method ofprocessing information according to claim 10, the method furthercomprising: distributing operations to one or more managing apparatuses;acquiring the position information of the stroke information drawn onthe display from the display; and transferring the position informationof the stroke information being acquired to any one of one or moremanaging apparatuses.
 19. A non-transitory, computer-readable recordingmedium storing a program that, when executed by one or more processorsof an information processing system, causes the processors to implementa method of processing information, comprising: receiving positioninformation of first stroke information and second stroke informationdrawn on a display at different timing; adding additional informationindicating a relationship of the received first stroke information andthe received second stroke information to the received first strokeinformation; generating, based on the position information of thereceived first stroke information, the position information of thereceived second stroke information and the added additional information,consecutive data used for displaying (playing) information drawn on thedisplay as the first stroke information and the second strokeinformation; and storing the generated consecutive data.